'Most democratic': U.S. is 15th on the list

A new rating of the most “democratic” nations on the planet places the U.S. in 15th place in a list of 104 countries. Who made the assessment? The Vienna, Austria-based Democracy Ranking annually rates the democracy among world populations based on “quality,” taking into account such factors as political rights, civil liberty, press freedom, corruption, political stability, “gender gap” issues and myriad socioeconomic indicators.

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Nordic nations — where governments tend to flirt with socialism — dominate the lead. The top 10 nations on the list are Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland and Austria.

“The United States dropped from ranking position 14 to 15, but improved in scores from 78.3 to 78.5, with gains in politics, environment, health, and knowledge, but losses in economy and gender,” the report said.

Canada, Belgium, Britain and Australia outrank the U.S. Among many others, the Russian Federation was 88th, India 72nd and Mexico 54th. The nations with the lowest rankings are Haiti, Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, China, Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Libya, Syria and — in last place — Yemen.